“Don’t gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don’t go up, don’t buy it.” …Will Rogers I recently read an article that compared investment marketing to the manufacture of fishing lures. The comparison, so the article goes, is that the […]
View Article“The investor’s chief problem and even his worst enemy is likely to be himself.” …Benjamin Graham There’s an old saw about two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fish swim […]
View Article“Mental strength is really important because you either win or lose in your mind. And I’m not solely talking about sporting matches, boxing events ‐ anything you do, you do it first with your mental strength.” —Wladimir Klitschko, former world champion boxer Boxing, known as the “sweet science”, and investing have similar traits. Many, if […]
View Article“There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe.” …Friedrich Nietzsche Laurus prefers to describe our investments as “emerging blue chip companies” as opposed to the traditional industry term “small cap”. Our deep fundamental investment process uncovers businesses that create long‐term wealth for […]
View Article“The thing I find most interesting about investing is how paradoxical it is: how often the things that seem most obvious—on which everyone agrees—turn out not to be true.” …Howard Marks One of the most misunderstood investment allocations in Canada is Canadian equity. Over the past few years, institutional investors have been reducing their Canadian […]
View Article“Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves.” — Peter Lynch A recent blog post by Sam Altman, CEO of Y Combinator, turned the phrase “the days are long but the decades are short”. Now, being admittedly sardonic, Sam is […]
View Article“The speculator’s primary interest lies in anticipating and profiting from market fluctuations. The investor’s primary interest lies in acquiring and holding suitable securities at suitable prices.” — Benjamin Graham While we seldom like to make specific market comments, the recent deterioration in stock prices merits a brief observation. At mid‐year, the SP500 Index was 75 […]
View Article“In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats.” — Warren Buffett Webster’s dictionary defines a moat as “a deep, wide ditch that is usually filled with water and that goes around the walls of a place (such as a castle) to protect it from being attacked” (emphasis added). Obviously, the wider and […]
View Article“[…] more thoughtful decision-making will lead to better overall results, and more thoughtful decision-making can be encouraged by evaluating decisions on how well they were made rather than on outcome.” — Robert Rubin, Former US Treasury Secretary We were recently sent a comment from a mutual fund company discussing returns for their small cap product. […]
View ArticleWe couldn’t help smiling at the recent Dilbert cartoon, especially given this past month’s 7.2% return. Scott Adams’ sardonic humour has always provided a regular source of chuckles. Being somewhat technologically challenged, I was a particular fan of the strip where the pointy‐haired boss announces the new password policy for the company: “Starting today, all […]
View Article“Confronted with the challenge to distil the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, Margin of Safety.” — Benjamin Graham While many investors claim to wait for the “fat pitch”, history shows few actually act when the opportunity presents itself. The concept has its roots in baseball; waiting at the plate […]
View Article“Bear in mind, Sancho, that one man is no more than another, unless he does more than another.” –Don Quixote de la Mancha In the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote is a somewhat mad, middle‐aged gentleman obsessed with chivalrous ideals. Along with his equally‐befuddled partner Sancho, Quixote takes up his lance and sword […]
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